The invention relates to a portable submerged nuclear power plant. More particularly, a safe fully submerged water cooled nuclear reactor, submerged in at least 25 m of water. The reactor, encased in a hull constructed of steel or concrete with a capacity of at least 300 MW of generating capacity, and having the ability to incorporate a desalination plant to provide at least 5 m.sup.3 /s of fresh water.
During the mid-1970s an offshore power system, known as the Atlantic Generating Station (AGS) was proposed to mount two conventional 1100 MW Pressurized Water Reactors on two barges each about 350 ft.times.450 ft and to moor those barges within a protective barrier 2.8 miles off the New Jersey coast. The barrier, constructed of 18,000 pre-cast concrete dolosse (a tetrapod shape, weighing 20 tons each), was necessary to protect the plant from storms and from collisions with surface shipping. Construction of the barrier required about four years and $200 million (in 1975) and, furthermore, restricted the AGS to relatively shallow water. The plant would have been refueled and maintained on-station, as with a conventional, land-based power plant.
In 1971 the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics proposed as an off-shore power station which would be permanently placed on the seabed in about 250 feet of water and about 5 miles from shore. The reactor was to be a conventional pressurized water reactor, producing about 1200 MWe. Although the Electric Boat design would have been initially constructed in a factory, refuelling and maintenance would take place on the seabed.
In contrast, the invention as described requires that no massive concrete barrier be poured or assembled, and the reactor is protected by the outer hull of the vessel, having no permanent structures and is easily transportable. The invention includes a pressurized water reactor, capable of generating at least 300 MW of electricity, encased in an submerged vessel having a collision barrier of frozen seawater. It further includes an additional desalination unit capable of providing at least 5 m.sup.3 /s of fresh water.